The Northern Province of Xieng Khong in Laos is one of the heaviest bombed place in the world along with the country’s southern province Savanakhet. The country itself is the worst affected by UXO and cluster munitions. No country on the earth could be able to compete Laos by the actual number of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO), including cluster munitions. Half of victims of cluster munitions are reportedly from Laos.

During the CIA waged-Secret War from 1964 till 1973, American airplanes had dropped 2 million tons of bombs, among which were 270 millions of cluster bomblets (or ‘bombies’ as locals call), that have been the main cause of 10,500 of death and 11,500 of injury for 35 years since the war ended. This appalling legacy is witnessed even ‘today’.

Children and farmers are particularly vulnerable to bombies, because bombies are usually found in farm fields and it is often invisible under the ground. Experts say that one CBU (or Cluster Bombs Unit) of ‘BLU 26’, the most common cluster munitions in Laos with 30% dud rate, could devastate three foot ball fields.

Since the mid of 1990s, some international NGOs and Laos government have launched clearance operation of UXOs. The UXOs have been cleared approximately between 0.5% – 0.9% for the past 14-15 years. Thus, it may take well over a thousand year to root out all remains, unless dramatic progress is made in clearance technology.

Meanwhile, the Convention on Cluster Munitions comes into effect on August 1, prohibiting 108 signatory countries from using, producing or transferring the munitions. Laos has been one of the leading signatories of the Convention. The other signatories include Briton, France, Germany and Japan, but not China, Israel, India, the US – the biggest producer – and South Korea, my home country. South Korea takes an excuse of its foe North Korea, which is also producing the deadly munitions.

The following pcitures were taken from Laos dated back in 2008 November just before the Convention was signed.

60-70년대 빠떼트라오 (라오스 공산당) 당원이었던 몽족 남성이 비밀전쟁 기간 자신의 경험을 이야기 하고 있다. 그에 따르면 대부분의 주민들이 동굴안에서 살아야 했으며 하루에 한두번 정도 먹을거리를 모으기 위해 동굴밖을 나왔다. 농사를 짓고 있는 그는 불발탄이 숨어 있는 논에서 위험을 감수하며 일하고 있다. 어린이와 농부들은 불발탄의 최대 희생자들이다. / A Hmong man recounts his experience during the secret war, in which American plane had dropped 2 million tons of bombs including more than 270 million cluster bomblets or bombie (as locals call). He said most of people were forced to live inside the cave or bunker for years. People went out of the cave only once or twice a day to collect foods to eat, he said. He, as a farmer, now takes his life risky when he works in a farming field, where cluster bomblets have been hidden. (Photo @ Yu K. Lee)